A crew of ex-cons are hired by a Cleveland mafioso to kidnap the baby of a rival mobster.

Carved from a lifetime of experience that runs the gamut from incarceration to liberation, Dog Eat Dog is the story of three men who are all out of prison and now have the task of adapting themselves to civilian life. The California three strikes law looms over them, but what the hell, they're going to do it, and they're going to do it their way. Troy, an aloof mastermind, seeks an uncomplicated, clean life but cannot get away from his hatred for the system. Diesel is on the mob's payroll and his interest in his suburban home and his nagging wife is waning. The loose cannon of the trio, Mad Dog, is possessed by true demons within, which lead him from one situation to the next. One more hit, one more jackpot, and they'll all be satisfied. Troy constructs the perfect crime and they pull it off, but in the aftermath, they keep finding the law surrounding them wherever they go.

On the outskirts of Cleveland, Troy, a freshly released from jail gig fixer, reunites with his old posse--Mad Dog, his loose cannon prison buddy, and Diesel, the muscle of the team. Having already two previous convictions and with California's strict three-strikes law threatening to send them back behind bars for good, the odd gang is treading on thin ice; nevertheless, they all desperately need the next grown-up job that will set them up for life. And then, unexpectedly, the well-connected El Greco brings Troy and his boys in touch with Chepe, the drug lord, for a lucrative kidnapping and ransom job. But, from now on, it's either death or victory.—Nick Riganas

When three-ex cons botch a kidnapping, they not only lose a rich payoff and become the city's most wanted fugitives; they become the number one target of the underworld's most notorious mob boss. Directed by Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull).